Paul’s Ramblings

In my old age I’m now discovering that not all advertising can be valued as highly as the Holy book itself. Take for example men’s shaving razors. As an informed consumer I know that two blades are better than one, three better than two, four than three and so on in an exponential fashion. I also know that the purpose of the extra blades is to lift hairs, as I shave, for a closer cut. I am also dutifully aware that the longer the title of the “shaving system” the better the shave and the smoother my face will be; “Mach 3 Turbo Extreme” obviously yields a better shave than “Men’s Razor”. So you can imagine how distraught I was when I recently discovered all of my shaving knowledge was utter bullocks.

This shaving renaissance occurred when I began pondering how much waste was being generated by my habitual consumption of razors, razor blades, shaving cream and ALL that packaging. While I have been purchasing the cartridges for my Gillette Mach 3 Turbo in an effort to reduce waste I have noticed that they come encased in a sturdy plastic holder therefore, by my estimation, I may as well have been using cheap disposable razors. So I inquired about other solutions.

It turns out that once upon a time people were able to buy just the razor blade itself, without all of the plastic, and were still able to shave.

“How could shaving be possible without a quadruple bladed, vibrating razor?”, I asked myself. I had to try this method for myself.

Once I had decided that acquiring a German engineered, vintage shaver would be out of the question in Kiev I turned to The Market. It turns out that our local market sells cheap, vintage style shaving kits for roughly $2, made in China of course. A pack of 5 Gillette blades set me an exorbitent 70 cents. $2.70 for a razor and 5 blades, surely no good could come from this.

My first attempt was, of course, a precarious, mildly bloody experience. But amidst the gore I noticed something that flew in the face of the all the advertising logic in which I placed my trust; the closest shave I’ve ever had. I was so impressed that I’ve now practiced a little more and am cutting myself no more frequently than usual. So what have I discovered?

• Multiple blades give you a closer shave - BOLLOCKS
• The first blade lifts, the second blade snips - BOLLOCKS
• $15 dollars for 4 cartridges is good value - BOLLOCKS

The REAL closest, smoothest shave possible, 15 cents per razor; I can live with that.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 3:16 am and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.